Peanut Butter and Maple Snickerdoodles

Oh hello autumn, there you are. Autumn is my favourite season and not just because of the green leaves gently turning orange but for the autumn baking fun that it brings. One of my all time favourite recipes is this one, the Peanut Butter and Maple Snickerdoodles.

I have been making these for many, many years and I know there's many of these recipes out there but this one has maple in it, which is a new one for me as usually I just focus on the peanut butter. Well, this one is quite the game changer. Subtle flavours, sweet, soft yet crispy and full of those delicious autumn flavours we love so much.

This is also a ridiculously easy recipe to make as it's an all in one favourite. That means, no mess! You just need one bowl and your ingredients at the ready and it takes, all in all, less than an hour to make. Why an hour? Surely these are just cookies, right? Right! But, the best cookies (in my opinion) should spend a little time in the freezer because if you dollop your cookie mix straight onto a pan, it can fall flat and I like to keep my cookies nice and firm. This method also helps when you need to roll your cookie dough ball in your cinnamon and sugar mix.

Snickerdoodles

PEANUT BUTTER SNICKERDOODLE TIPS

  • Peanut butter - the right peanut butter is VERY important here. When I was younger I made these a few times using a chunky peanut butter and it simply did not work. I didn't know why but then I changed to a smoother peanut butter (palm oil free, of course) and the rest of my recipe and oh the difference was absolutely remarkable. The smoother and creamier the better with this recipe.

  • Wet hands - this isn't necessary but I do find having slightly damp hands actually helps with rolling the balls so they don't get too sticky. It also helps when rolling in the cinnamon and sugar mix.

  • Nutmeg - again, this isn't necessary but I use a tiny bit of nutmeg in this recipe and it really does bring out those lovely flavours.

For the Snickerdoodles

  • 1 Duck Egg (or you can use two chicken eggs)

  • 130 g Brown Sugar

  • 3.5 tbsp Olive Oil Butter

  • 3.5 tbsp Peanut Butter (Smooth)

  • 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract

  • 145 g Plain Flour

  • 2 tbsp Maple syrup

  • 1/2 tsp Sea Salt

  • 1/4 tsp Nutmeg

  • 1/2 tsp Cinnamon

For the top of the Snickerdoodles

  • 3 tbsp Brown Sugar

  • 2 tsp Cinnamon

Method

  1. Pop your oven on to 180c and leave to heat. In a bowl, cream together your butter, vanilla extract, cinnamon and nutmeg and your brown sugar - it can take a little while as the brown sugar is so dense but it will create a sand type mixture to start with but keep going until smooth and creamy.

  2. When smooth, add in your egg, peanut butter and your salt and mix until combined and then add in your maple. Stir until smooth.

  3. At this point, you want to fold in your flour mix but do not over stir it. The batter shouldn't be super wet but equally not super dry either.

  4. Use a cookie scoop, ice cream scoop or tablespoon to scoop up your cookie mix and pop it on a baking tray (that can fit in the freezer) and place as similar sized balls on there. Don't worry about rolling them into balls at this stage as the batter will be too tacky to roll yourself. Freeze for 15-25 minutes and then use damp hands to roll the balls. Dip each ball in the sugar mix and pop back on the baking tray and freeze again for 5 minutes.

  5. Pop into the oven for 12 minutes but at minute 10 (as I like my snickerdoodles less tall) use a table spoon to gently press down on them so they flatten (but only a tad) and then pop back in the oven for the remaining two minutes.

Snickerdoodles